LARKANA: Relatives of a woman patient went berserk and beat up doctors, paramedics and other staff in the casualty unit of the Chandka Medical College Hospital after she died during treatment on Saturday. One of them fired at the chief medical officer of the department in his office but he was not hurt.

Police were called in but they arrived too late as the unruly people had already beaten up several doctors and staff by then.

Tasneem Leghari, 25, a resident of Saindad Leghari village situated in Mirokhan taluka of Qambar district, was brought to the hospital’s casualty unit in a serious condition. Doctors and paramedics provided her emergency treatment but she could not survive.

Her death shocked her attendants, who started wailing and shouting at doctors and paramedics holding them responsible for the death. They also called out their other relatives, who went berserk and grabbed the doctors on duty. The enraged people tore off the doctors’ clothes and thrashed them. They also ransacked furniture in the casualty unit and fired into the air. Some of them broke into the office of chief medical officer (casualty) Dr Manzoor Abbasi and fired at him but he escaped unhurt.

Dr Abbasi and dispenser Sarfaraz Shaikh told Dawnthat police were promptly informed of the situation but they arrived late.

The aggressive posture of the unruly people and firing spread a great deal of panic among the hospital staff, patients, their attendants and visitors at the casualty unit and many of them ran to safety, said Dr Abbasi.

In the meantime, the patient’s body was taken away by her relatives without a post-mortem examination, sources said.

The casualty unit remained closed from around 1pm, when the trouble started, to 3pm.

Realising gravity of the situation, Assistant Commissioner Mohammed Yousif Bhutto and DSP Yar Mohammed Rind rushed to the scene. They spoke to Pakistan Medical Association Larkana chapter president Dr Shahbaig Chandio, the hospital management and leaders of paramedics’ association and persuaded them to resume their duties without any fear.

While Abdullah Leghari, a relative of the deceased patient, kept accusing doctors of negligence that led to her death, the doctors who attended her gave details of the treatment they provided to the patient to save her life.

They said that Ms Leghari was rushed to the casualty unit in a serious condition as she had consumed black stone (a poisonous ingredient of a hair-dye formula that is easily available at herbal medicines stores).

A duty doctor, Dr Mannan Bhutto, who attended to the patient said she was in shock when brought to the hospital. Her stomach-wash was done and a naso-gastric tube was passed to save her life.

Dr Farooque Magsi of the medical unit-III, who also examined the patient, prescribed medicines, said chief resident medical officer Dr Habib-ur-Rehman Soomro.

Despite immediate and proper treatment provided to her, she could not survive, they said.

Meanwhile, CMCH medical superintendent Dr Safiullah Abbasi has constituted a committee headed by Prof Dr Hafeez Abro and asked it to hold a detailed inquiry into the whole episode and submit a report to him within the next three days.

Additional medical superintendent (CMCH) Dr Abdul Majeed Jessar and Dr Ahmed Ali Brohi additional medical superintendent (teaching block) are the other members of the committee.

Dr Chandio of the PMA and Shahi Khan Jagirani of the paramedics association have condemned attack on the hospital staff and called for effective security measures at the CMCH. They also demanded arrest of the culprits.